A SPORT TRAINING AID

Technical Field

The present invention relates to sport training aids and more particularly but not exclusively to a sports training aid to aid a player in developing kicking skills.

Background of the Invention

In many football codes points are scored by kicking a ball between goal posts. Players practice their kicking skills by repetitively kicking balls at a target, and retrieving a ball. Frequently this also entails the use of a tee upon which the ball rests prior to being kicked. For players training as suggested above, it is very time consuming to be continually retrieving the ball or balls.

The above problem has been at least partly addressed by attaching a line to the ball and anchoring the line at a convenient position for the user.

The above discussed use of a line to aid in retrieving the ball suffers from the disadvantage that it does not provide for retrieval of the tee should the tee also become displaced.

Further disadvantages of the above discussed method of retrieving the ball include not permitting the ball to rotate "end over end" and where the line is "elastic" not returning the ball to the approximate position from which it was kicked.

Object of the Invention

It is the object of the present invention to substantially overcome or substantially ameliorate the above disadvantage or at least to provide a useful alternative.

Summary of the Invention

There is disclosed herein a sport training aid including: a flexible line to be attached to a ball to be propelled by a user; a tee upon which the ball is to rest, with the line being attached to said tee; a first anchor member to which the line is attached;

a second anchor member to which the line is attached; and wherein said line is configured to extend from the tee to said first anchor member, by virtue of being attached to the ball to be located on said tee, and to return to the tee via said second anchor member. Preferably, said line is attached to said first anchor member by means of a coupling providing for relative movement between the line and the first anchor member.

Preferably, said line is attached to said second anchor member so that a portion of said line is fixed thereto so as to be stationary with respect to said second anchor member. Preferably, said tee is configured to store a length of said line.

Preferably, said line is attached to opposite sides of the ball to provide for rotation of the ball about a transverse axis.

Preferably, said line is a first line, and said first line is attached to said first anchor member by a second line. Preferably, said second line is resiliency elongatable.

Preferably, said line is bifurcated for attachment to said ball so as to be attached to said ball at spaced locations thereon.

In one embodiment the line is deformable so as to be resiliency longitudinally extendible.

Brief Description of the Drawings

A preferred form of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic top isometric view of a sport training aid;

Figure 2 is a schematic top isometric view of a modification of the sport training aid of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a schematic top isometric view of a portion of the sport training aid of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a top isometric view of a further portion of the sport training aid of Figure 2; and Figure 5 is a schematic isometric view of a tee employed in the sport training aids of Figures 1 and 2.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

In Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings there is schematically depicted a sport training aid 10. The training aid 10 of Figure 1 is intended to aid a football player to develop skills in respect of goal kicking. However, it should be appreciated that the aid 10 could be used for many football codes or other ball type sports.

The sport training aid 10 includes a tee 11 upon which a ball 12 rests prior to being kicked by a user. Attached to, and extending from, the ball 12 is a pair of first elongated flexible lines 13 that extend from the ball 12 to be secured to a respective first anchor member 14, with the lines 13 each then extending to a respective second anchor member 15. Each of the lines 13 is attached to its respective anchor member 14 by means of a flexible line 16 and a swivel connection 17 as best seen in Figure 4. Each of the connections 17 includes an eyelet 18 through which the line 13 may pass.

Most preferably the line 16 is elastic. That is, it can be resiliently elongated. In such an arrangement, the line 16 aids in absorbing the kinetic energy of the ball and aids in returning the ball too approximately from where the ball 12 was kicked.

Preferably the anchor members 14 and 15 are "pegs" that are driven into a ground surface upon which the tee 11 is resting. However, other types of anchoring devices could be utilised.

Preferably the line 13 is attached to the ball 12 by means of a swivel connection including an eyelet 19.

One of the lines 13 also passes through its associated anchor member 15 to be secured to the tee 11. In this regard, the tee 11 is also configured so that a length of line 13 may be stored thereon. In this embodiment the tee 11 has a concave surface 20 about which the line 13 is wound as best seen in Figure 5. The line 13 may be elastic or non elastic. That is, if the line 13 is elastic then it may be longitudinally resiliently deformed.

In the embodiment of Figure 2, one of the lines 13 of the embodiment of Figure 1 is eliminated, with the remaining line 13 being bifurcated to provide line portions 21 that are attached to opposite sides of the ball 12. hi use of the embodiments of Figures 1 and 2, a user kicks the ball 12 and propels the ball 12 toward a target (goal) 22. The ball 12 upon reaching the extremity of its travel away from the user, will rebound back to the user. Should the tee 11 also

become dislodged, again it may be retrieved by use of the line 13.

Attention is drawn to the eyelets 19 and the lines 13 that extend to two sides of the ball 12 (Figure 1) and the line portions 21 (Figure 3) that are also attached to the sides of the ball 12. This arrangement enables the ball 12 when struck to rotate "end over end". That is, to rotate about a transverse axis 23 (see Figure 3).

In respect of the embodiment of Figure 3, the use of a single line 13 has the advantage of minimal interference with the intended direction of travel of the ball 12.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms.